Emerald Parable
by Divinitas Intereo
Summary: The future is often seen through the lens of the past. After completing his destiny, Harry must deal with the fact that living in the aftermath of the ordeal is just as important as going through it. Finding his way to a life without the weight of the world or the prophecy on his shoulders seems impossible, but an unexpected source begins to show glimpses of how he can do it.


Hey all, to set the scene before you jump into this story: it's been roughly around a month or two since the final Battle of Hogwarts. That transitional time for everyone has always been pretty paramount for me, a proper denouement being something that I'm more or less in love with. I've always been interested to explore those days and how the characters deal with their lives when they have to pick up the pieces after the story. On top of that though, this is going to be more than just the telling of how they live their lives after, since in order to understand where you're going, it always helps to know where you've been. I plan on telling a three fold tale here, hopefully you'll hand around for the ride.

* * *

Waking up every morning was still a strain. Old pains ached and bothered him, and new ones found their ways to creep in easily enough, but Harry managed to shrug them off as he got to his feet and steadied himself on the side of his bed. Reaching for his glasses, he put them on and looked around himself.

The attic of the Borrow had never seemed more like comforting than it did now, and even though the crushing weight of everything he'd lost recently sometimes caved down on him, knowing that the Weasley's had so willinging taken him in had been a massive salve on the new scars that Tom had managed to create.

Light knocking caused his head to look to the door, and when Mrs. Weasley's smiling face popped in, Harry returned her smile with a small inquisitorial look. The morning visitations had stopped a while ago...or so he'd though, he didn't know what time it was, and he could have woken up earlier than usual.

"Alright there Mrs. Weasley?"

"Everything is fine Harry, however the Minister and a few officiators from the Ministry have come to see you today."

Harry smiled at Molly and nodded letting her know that he would be down momentarily. Where once a visit from the Minister of Magic would have been a complete bother to Harry, now with this Minister there was no issue at all whenever that specific office was brought up-after all there was probably no one better suited to the office right now than Kingsley Shacklebolt.

As quick as he could, Harry tidied himself up and made his way down the stairs and into the living quarters of the Borrow, and there smiling as he entered was Kingsley.

"Minister, it's good to see you." Harry, his hand outstretched noticed the light look of playful annoyance that passed through Kingsley's face.

"I must insist Chosen One that the pleasure is all mine." Harry's mirrored expression of Kingsleys caused both of them to smile at one another before they exchanged their handshake for a quick hug and Harry motioned for Kingsley to have a seat.

"So what brings you here today Kingsley? Not that it isn't fantastic to see you, but I'm sure things are still pretty hectic over at the Ministry what with all the chaos that has to be settling down and all." The intake of breath and the slightly tired look that Harry had become accustomed to seeing in Kingsley's face in pictures and in other places weighed on him for a moment and Kingsley straightened himself to look at Harry.

"Normally another person would be here to do this, but given the...unique circumstances that this particular situation has brought about, I figured that it would be best if I took the time out of my day and came to deliver it myself." With that he pulled out a stretch of parchment from his robes and Harry immediately recognized what type of parchment it was-he'd seen two like it before: once after the death of his Godfather, and the other after the death of Albus Dumbledore. A will...but it made no sense, there was no one else that should have left him anything, no else to leave him anything, and yet the look in Kingsley's eyes spoke that this was a rather awkward event for him.

"Whose?" The question trailed off of Harry's tongue as Kingsley undid the will and opened it up, clearing his voice, he began to read:

"The last will and testament of Severus Snape."

Often people recount how a pendrop would ring like a bell in the silence that is created in their shock at news they weren't expecting, but for Harry time stood still as the name of the man who had played a massive role in ensuring their victory rang loud and clear and seemed to echo from all over the room in the voice of Kingsley Shacklebolt. The odd empty space that the name of Harry's least favorite teacher managed to create in him now rivaled that of his Godfathers and Remus Lupin's.

"I wasn't aware that Snape had left a will..."

Kingsley nodded, and handed Harry a letter that was completely separate from the will. "We ourselves were left unaware that anything had been left by Severus Snape until this was handed over to us not two days gone by. Why She waited so long before turning it over, with instructions for that letter to be delivered to you, I will never know." Prompting Harry to the letter, he looked over it in his hands and didn't recognize the elegant script that was written on the letter, it was simply addressed,

'Harry Potter'

Opening it, the letter was short and to the point:

'I have repaid my debt to him now.

Narcissa Malfoy.'

Looking up at Kingsley, The Minister shrugged and handed Harry the parchment he was holding. Confusion spread across Harry's face as he did so and then Kingsley explained, "Whenever we received it, we wanted to check it over and make sure there was nothing malicious about it, however Snape is as potent in his death as he was in his life. The parchment can only be read by the one it was intended for, under specific circumstances I'm sure. Whenever any of us tried to do anything with it, it would only read as I have read-assuming that the person is you. Although why Narcissa would know that we don't know, However she left this in our keeping and as soon as I was able to ascertain that it was safe I brought it over here to you."

Looking down, a familiar but different attribute was being performed by the parchment, it read:

 **'The last will and testament of Severus Snape'**

As he was reading the former, words appeared on the parchment underneath that writing,

 _'I will speak to you and you alone- The Half-Blood Prince.'_

Harry's eyes again questioned.

"We can only surmise that Snape has used an exceptionally powerful sensory charm in order for the will to recognize who is holding it, and unlocking it demands that all of his criteria be met, which seems to be you alone."

Harry nodded his head, and Kingsley stood, Harry joining him and sharing goodbyes.

"It was good to see you Potter, hopefully you will give over some consideration to my last visit, however I think now is not the time to discuss that. I will leave you to it." With one final goodbye Kingsley exited the room and left Harry alone.

* * *

The rest of the day, Harry spent time attempting to get the will to open, however no matter where he was in the Borrow, the Half-Blood Prince would not deliver the will to him. Finally as dinner time came around and Harry finally emerged to the Weasley's, Arthur came over to him.

"Ah Harry, I've been meaning to speak with you since I came back, however no one could seem to have any idea of where you had gotten off to," As Harry made to motion an apology Arthur waved it off, "No matter. Kingsley managed to tell me why he stopped by earlier this morning, and I thought it would be best to come by and offer some advice: Snape was cautious in his life, exceptionally so. If he means for you to be alone...well, that always meant something different to him than it did to anyone else. Might be best if there was truly no one around for the will to sense. Just a word of advice." And just like that, Mr. Weasley walked off, with the same smile that, like Molly's, seemed to miss his eyes sometimes. The low pain in Harry's chest tugged at that sight, but there were other things to be done.

Thinking on this problem for a moment, Harry thought of a place he would be able to be truly be alone and only one place came to his mind. Without further thought on the matter, he grabbed the will and headed out from the borrow, the rest of the Weasley's none the wiser.

It had been some time since Harry had returned to #12 Grimmauld Place, after the incident with Hermione and Yaxley they hadn't come back. Looking around, Harry could see that at some point, someone had trashed the place again, yet Grimmauld place looked as pristine as it had probably back in its glory days when it had been the occupied by the Blacks. A fire could be heard crackling in the living room and Harry was as surprised as he was...oddly at home. A slight pop announced the arrival of who he had been sure was responsible for Grimmauld Place current situation.

"Master has come back to Grimmauld Place." The low bow Kreacher accompanied his address with still made Harry feel awkward.

"Hey Kreacher, have you been keeping the place up?"

"Oh yes, Kreacher lives to serve the Master, and wanted to make sure that his home was prepared at all times in case he should ever desire to return. And a right time of it did Kreacher have, what with those filthy death eaters coming in and attempting to set traps-took Kreacher an eternity and a half to disarm them all."

'Score one for the house-elf', Harry thought while Kreacher told his small tale. Although, as Kreacher had been talking about welcoming him home, Harry did realize that it was exactly how he felt: like he was coming home. Looking around at the place, this was where Harry had managed to have some of his happiest memories with Sirius.

"Thanks Kreacher, it's brilliant."

The low bow that accompanied that, Harry thought, he would never get used to.

"Say Kreacher, do you think I could get something to eat or drink? I've managed to skip dinner and something to snack on would be amazing."

Kreacher excitedly huddled off to gather whatever Harry needed, and Harry settled into a seat in front of the fireplace. Will in hand, Harry opened it to once again be greeted by the knowledge that he was holding Snape's Will. However, this time instead of being greeted by The Half-Blood Prince, the text of the Will finally greeted him.

 _'If you're reading this I am obviously dead. I left this in the care of Narcissa to be given to you in those events. I never cared for you, however in death I leave behind everything I did care for to your keeping. Do what you will with them. I kept a home in Spinner's End, I leave it to you.'_

The Parchment wiped as soon as Harry read the last line, and no matter how much he prompted it, the words never reappeared. During the reading, Kreacher had set out some pumpkin juice for him, grabbing it he took a drink and stared at the parchment late into the night.

* * *

"I don't know why I always assumed Snape lived in the dungeon at Hogwarts year round." Ron's lackadaisical thought on the matter seemed to clear the shocked air in the room. Hermione was the second to recover.

"Honestly Ronald."

'What? He just looked like he belonged in that Dungeon. Besides, aren't we missing the real point here? Why would Snape leave Harry of all people his house and everything in it? It's absolutely mental when you think about it. I mean, the bloke hated Harry."

Nudging Ron, Hermione looked towards Harry, all the while, he himself had been watching the interaction between the two, still a little numb at the thought of it all.

"I think Professor Snape was a more complicated person than any of us will ever know, given what Harry told us he saw in the Pensieve. There was more to him, more to his motivations than we can understand, and this may be a way to make amends for something? After all, he did know your mother longer than anyone else, maybe there's something there?"

At that thought Harry jerked his head up and looked at Hermione.

"Hermione, you're a genius, I didn't even think about that!"

The small smile she offered in return was nice to see. Her recent trip to Australia to retrieve her parents had left a lot of...things unsaid between the three of them, and was an adventure that Harry had missed out on, but that the two of them had taken with one another. Her easy relationship with Ron was much more pronounced now, which made Harry smile, when it wasn't bringing up the subject of another red head who he'd been avoiding.

"So Snape's home...what do you think it's like?"

"He never liked to go there, much like Riddle and myself, Snape considered Hogwarts his home."

The idea of home was now in flux for Harry, after all he couldn't stay at the Burrow forever. His recent trip to Grimmauld place had brought about some interesting trains of thought though.

"Either way, I plan on going to Spinner's End. Snape was er..a bit of a toerag to me, to all of us, but he wouldn't have left it to me without a reason is what I'm guessing."

The other two silenced at that and voiced their agreements on Harry's choice, and also their intentions on going with him. Getting up from the table in the kitchen, Harry strode to the back door of the Borrow to look outside, taking in the view that met him.

"Well, there's no need to put it off then, right?"

With a slight shrug Ron was about to agree before Hermione interjected, "Perhaps we should wait for the morning though? Mrs. Weasley near on had a heart attack looking for you earlier, and if you want to keep her from having a repeat performance it'll be best if we wait till more appropriate hours. Not to mention that Ginny will be able t-" Harry turned around and agreed with her before motioning towards Ron and her that he was going to head upstairs.

Some things he was ready to face, others...others he needed more time to think about.

* * *

' _I should have come alone'_ , The thought idly passed through his mind while he lead Ron and Hermione down Spinner's End. The decrepit state of the neighborhood didn't surprise him, from the memories and glimpses Harry had seen, he knew that Snape hadn't liked to come here for more than just one reason. Walking up to the front of the door, he couldn't help but feel that he was being watched. It wa a slightly preposterous idea though, mainly owed to the fact that the entire place looked like it may as well have been a ghost town.

"Well, did he leave a key?"

Harry shook his head no at Ron, and thought for a second before opening the door. Walking in, the feeling of not belonging here completely enveloped him. Where Grimmauld place was warm and inviting to him now, he didn't think he would ever be able to see this place as such. They had stepped directly into a tiny sitting room, where had the feeling of a dark padded cell. The walls were completely covered in books, most of them bound in old black or brown leather; a threadbare sofa, an old armchair and a rickety table stood grouped together in a pool of dim light cast by a candle-filled lamp hung from the ceiling. The place had an air of neglect, a coldness to it that Harry could feel.

With a slight shiver he stepped farther in so Hermione and Ron could come in. Their observations were lost on him as he walked around the room, taking a look at what had been left to him. He'd always assumed that anything important to him Snape had kept at Hogwarts. Like himself, he knew that Snape had seen the school as home. Why had he left it for him though? That was the question that was flowing through Harry's mind.

Walking the room bookshelf by bookshelf, there was nothing in particular that held his attention, although he could see that Hermione was visually captivated by everything that was in the room. Although Snape had been a harsh with them, there was no denying his obvious brilliance-both intellectually and as a Wizard. He knew that had things been different Snape would have ended up being one of Hermione's favorite teachers just due to the raw knowledge that he kept.

"Ahk!-" Ron cut through the room as one of the shelves moved forward, his wand almost coming out of his hand. Usually he was far more cautious-had been ever since the end of the war, but the fact that Ron out of all of them had managed to uncover a secret door was no shock to either Harry or Hermione. Pulling out his wand, Harry walked forward through the doors and looked in, his wand lighting up at the tip, no word leaving his mouth. The staircase was the first thing that caught his eyes, motioning for the others to follow, he walked up them, Ron and Hermione close behind him.

Walking in Snape's house felt barren-there was no love for the place, no hate, nothing. Looking back, he wished that Snape hadn't died, there was so much he wanted to ask him about, so many things that he had questions about. With all the Marauders dead, Snape had been an unknown connection to his mother, someone who had known her even longer than his father and any of her other friends had.

The doors weren't labeled, but it was obvious to tell which door had been Snape's. Walking forward and opening the door, Harry walked in seeing an almost reflection of what his room at the Dursely's had been after he had gone to Hogwarts for the first time: just somewhere he went back to when school was over. Although, as he walked in he was surprised by the muffled sounds of his friends and when he turned around he saw that neither one could walk into this house.

"He must have had some serious wards on this place if they're still repelling people even after his death." Hermione tried pushing against the wards, but to no avail.

"How come Harry's able to get through them then?"

He was wondering that for himself, until it clicked as soon as Hermione spoke, "It should be obvious: Snape willed Harry this place. Much like Sirius with Kreacher and Grimmauld place; Harry is now the legitimate heir to this house, so any wards here aren't designed to keep him out. Technically they're all his."

Thinking about this for a moment, Ron pushed his hand against the wall of nothing again a frustratedly sighed.

"Well, if they're all his, couldn't he force them to let us through?"

Hermione shook her head for a moment. "No, not unless he knew which wards to dispel. Otherwise it'd be like you attempting to turn off a light without knowing which switch to use." The look of confusion on Ron's face caused her to have a slight blush. "Err, Like blowing out a candle in a room while blindfolded."

Ever the jokester Ron pulled out his Deluminator and smiled. Hermione's annoyed smile and his own mischievous one made Harry smile. The two of them had an easy going relationship.

"Honestly Ronald, do you carry that thing everywhere with you?" His nod yes, only caused her to sigh. "You kidding me? I'm never leaving anywhere without this thing. You'd think after Australia she'd never want to go anywhere without it either." They hadn't mentioned much about that trip, but Ron and Hermione had referenced that fact Dumbledore's gift to Ron had been useful on more than one occasion.

"We'll wait for you downstairs Harry?" He nodded and they left him to his own devices as he walked deeper into Snape's room. The barrenness of it was in stark contrast, and yet in line with the office that Snape had kept. Harry had no clue if Snape ever did any actual potion brewing while here, but while he'd kept an office at Hogwarts that was filled with potion components and a desk, he had never seen anything except for his studious materials. However, thinking back to the memories that he'd given Harry, that was probably as personal as his life got, outside of his mother. The only thing in the room that was a change in decor from downstairs was the bed that Snape kept in here.

More bookshelves lines the walls in here too, and Harry was shocked to find that as he looked at them, all of them were blank as to tell him what they were, except for a few potions or spell books that lined the walls. Walking to one of the shelves, he pulled out a copy of Snape's 5th year potions book and opened it up. Shining the light from his wand at the title page, he saw exactly what he expected to:

 _This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince_

With a wry smile on his lips now knowing who the Half-Blood Prince was, he casually flipped through the book taking in Snape's apparent genius for the subject, even then. His annotations on the side of the book were eagerly and quickly scribbled, although in his casual flipping through, he noticed something odd. Every now and again he would see a part where Snape's instructions were crossed out and in significantly neater handwriting different and often times more detailed instructions were scribbled in.

With interest, Harry read through as someone who was either equally or even, surprisingly, more gifted than Snape annotated the Half-Blood Prince's annotations. However there was a stark contrast to the approaches: where Snape's annotations showed his studiousness, the other's showed their passion. There were even times when they'd gone back and edited or scratched out their own annotations and left instructions on why not to do it that way, and how another method would provide either a better, different but equally good, or unique result. Flipping through the book Harry looked at each note, Snape had developed a habit of at least notating himself as the Half-Blood Prince whenever he left these annotations, so he was sure that whoever was writing in this had done that at least once.

Going almost to the second to the last page, he came across more of a note than an annotation that read,

' _Honestly with as many additions as you make, you'd think that there would be more love for it! You're an amazing future potions master! Don't be afraid to love it as much as it loves you!'- The The Emerald Envy_

Almost dropping the book when he read the moniker, Harry realized whose handwriting it was that littered Snape's potions book. He'd only ever seen it once, which was why it took the name to trigger his memory of it. He had to be sure though.

"Hermione!"

The shuffle from downstairs was notable, and as Ron and Hermione made their way upstairs, he began to pull book after book down from the shelf, opening them up around him on the floor to different pages. In each one, except for the ones dated after their fifth year for obvious reasons, Emerald Envy's writing permeated the books almost as much as The Half-Blood Prince's did.

"Harry?" Hermione's voice broke through, and he realized that she couldn't get through. Annoyance flashed through him, and for a moment all Harry could do was huff with frustration and run his hands through his hair.

"I wish this barmy spell would just go away, I need you to see this!" Snape either had an interesting sense of humor, or had known that Harry would never have been able to figure out exactly which spells he'd used to ward his house cause no sooner than he'd said those words than did Ron and Hermione come tumbling into the room, both of them falling in as they'd been pressing up against the door.

The slight blush that stained Hermione's cheeks was only rivaled by the smug smile on Ron's face as he looked at her. Pulling out his Deluminator he clicked it twice and light flooded the room. "What was that, as hard as putting out a candle blindfolded?" Shoving him a little with a playful smile she stood up, all the while pushing him back down as Ron attempted to get to his feet.

"I guess Professor Snape planned for the eventuality of Harry not being able to take down his wards and left him command phrases to do so for him." The attempt to justify her previous fallacy brought a smile to Harry's face. Motioning for her to come over and join him, he turned his attention back to the books. As she began to look at one of the books around Harry, she too instantly recognized the writing of The Half-Blood Prince, and was equally surprised by the other annotations that followed or joined Snape's.

"Someone else has been writing in these with him, and they're obviously brilliant and a little more than playful! Look at these recommendations! They're either advancements on what Snape was doing, helped Snape to advance his own annotations, or additions that create new possible potions form the ones that they were initially supposed to make. Who…?'" Holding up the one note he'd been able to find about the author of the annotations, Hermione read the note, and then starkly looked up to his eyes for a moment, before digging into the beaded bag that she still kept with her at all times. Pulling out Harry's mokeskin pouch she handed it over to him and he quickly pulled out the only copy of his mother's handwriting that he'd ever seen. Holding it against the words written by Emerald Envy, there was no denying the penmanship.

"It was her, she was Emerald Envy…" Taking a moment to absorb the face that all of these books probably held loads of his mother's notes and epigraphs, Harry began rummaging around the books that didn't have titles. Most of them were books on potions or spell components that Snape had written in his own hand, again with annotations done by Lily, both of them always writing under their pseudonyms. While he and Hermione were going through these, they'd lost track of Ron, whose silence cause Harry to look up at him.

Presently he was over by the bed, the only nightstand in the room stood open and Ron was holding what looked to be a journal in his hand, however there was a page he was holding as if it had been torn from the book. He seemed like he was unable to take his eyes away from it though, and he turned to Harry with a look that said he was a little more than shocked.

"I'd always wondered what was on the end of that letter…" The letter in question was currently in Harry's hand as Ron flashed them the second page that Harry had only ever seen in memories from Severus Snape. With everything that had happened, he'd forgotten that the only one he'd ever told the end of that letter to was Hermione due to the fact that she was only one who remembered to ask. Either way, it's revelation was nothing new to them now, since Dumbledore's friendship with Grindelwald was well known now.

Getting up from where he was, Harry made his way over to Ron and put his hand out for the second piece of the letter, but instead Ron handed him the book that was in his hands. A curious look on his face, Harry held it for a moment before opening it, and watching as a picture fell down. Bending his knees down he reached for the piece between his legs lifting it up to look at it, it was the torn piece that Snape had kept for himself. Staring at it for a second, he turned his attention to the journal in his hands while handing Ron the picture. Opening it up, the opening message caused him to fall back, his full fall only caught by the bed.

Hermione turned away from the books to look towards him to see what was going on, but he was enthralled by what he was seeing, already tears were falling down both of his eyes.

It read:

 _This Diary is the property of The Emerald Envy_

Under that, a little note was scribbled,

 _I hope that by the time you read this it will be an old story to you, told time and again so much to the point that you'll look at this and not have to read it. Just in case though, I wanted you to know how everything happened from our eyes._

 _Remember, no matter where you are in life or when you read this,_

 _I love you Harry._

 _Always._

* * *

I hope you've enjoyed the beginning to this tale. I'll be honest and let you know that I don't keep any semblance of a regular publishing schedule on this site so these chapters will be coming out whenever I feel like writing them. I write fanfiction as a way to kind of give me a break from writing original fiction, so this is written whenever I'm not writing that stuff. Also, please forgive any grammatical, spelling, or continuity errors that occur-I have rule that I don't edit fanfics for the simple fact that I don't have time to, so most of what I write here is usually first drafts done with a basic read though. This story was born out of a want to tale several stories within a story, and I figured doing that would best be done with characters that I'm familiar with and in a world that I enjoy writing in. From this point forward I'm going to be shifting between the present (After the battle of Hogwarts) to the past (Marauder Era Hogwarts). Both of those eras are areas I love to write in and explore, mainly due to the fact that I really dislike writing in established parts of the world where the author has either said or written anything better than I could hope to add into their world. It's those edges of the map that they hinted at but never fleshed out that I love to explore. Parings are going to be all the Canon one's that we know about for the modern story, Ron & Hermione, Harry finding his way back to Ginny, so on and so forth, (I love to read alt parings, can't bring myself to write them) and for the Marauder era James and Lily obviously (and eventually), Frank and Alice-basically if they had kids you can pretty much bet on seeing them in here, and I'll create relationships as I go along and what not for those characters who were never shown with a significant other, but you're pretty sure they would have had one. School crushes and relationships and all that. Either way, happy reading.

Divinitas Intereo


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